Isle of Giants

Chapter Two (1)

    CHAPTER TWO

    Forest of Caelia, Rai'lun

    Oana

    Leaping from one branch to the next Oana made her own path through the forest. It was dusk, the Yellow Sun had set leaving the thick darkened gloom in its wake before the Red Sun rose up into the sky.

    Something caught Oana's eye from high above in the tree, she paused before her next jump and looked down, letting her eyes adjust through the dark at the soft silver glow. She then sought the land surrounding the light, searching for hunting prowlers or any of the other dangers the forest hosted during the dusk. She was almost certain that it was clear of any threat, but to make sure she balanced her stave between two branches, wrapped her hands around the middle and let her body swing down. There she dangled patiently between the floor and the tree tops. When nothing pounced out at her from the bushes Oana felt safe enough to unhook her stave and let her feet touch the ground.

    She was still for a moment, listening to the winds and leaves and became utterly confident that this patch of Caelia was safe for her to locate the glowing sphere of silver light and pluck it from its stem. Oana lifted it up for closer inspection, the radiance of the moonshine lit up her face. There was a twinkle in her eyes as she gazed at the orb, and it reflected off the light sheen of her long hair that she had braced at the top of her head and that fell down either side of her face. Quickly Oana opened up the crystal lantern that was hooked onto the end of her stave and stored the moonshine. Sealing it back up the oreiad returned up to the shelter of the trees, the orb in the crystal lantern continued to glow, it aided in lighting her way as she searched for more forest plants that had flowered with moonshine. They were usually well hidden and hard to find, but over the generations oreiades had honed their skill in gathering, and it was rare when an orb was overlooked.

    To be a gatherer was an important task, although Oana hadn't seen it that way when she was first appointed her duty within her clan. She had hoped for something much more interesting, something that seemed much more important, but after the first few nights and dusks of collecting moonshine Oana found that there was a lot more than anyone knew to the art of gathering. First off, it was dangerous. An oreiad was generally a fast being, swift and silent but to be a gatherer they needed to be faster, swifter, quieter. If they weren't, that would be when a prowler had the upper hand and death was sure to follow. As Oana matured in her duty, and within the people of her clan, she soon realised that there was no greater responsibility than to be a gatherer. Without her, and those like her, there would be no moonshine and her entire peoples' lives depended upon those night orbs for nutrients, light, healing and even in the structures of their homes. Without moonshine there would be no more generations of oreiad.

    Oana stopped again as she had spotted another orb just underneath an arched root of a tree. As before, because she could never become too arrogant and confident that it was safe, Oana proceeded to scan the floor and kept her ears alert. She then balanced her stave again and hung. With no prowlers attacking, she landed and gathered the silver orbs, this time there was two that had flowered on one stem, and put them with the other in the lantern.

    Just as she was about to climb the nearest tree to continue her search she caught the glimpse of a glow in the distance. In the darkness she couldn't see very well, and the glow of the lantern wasn't helping either, but the more she stared the more clear whatever it was became. She first identified it as a golden light, then she caught the unmistakable sound of wings beating hard and fast. Oana noticed that it had spotted her and was heading in her direction. Not wanting to be distracted on the forest floor she climbed up the tree and waited patiently on the edge of a branch as the light began to ascend up towards her.